The name "Miles Prower" is a pun on "miles per hour", a reference to the famed speed of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, as well as his incredible skills as a mechanic. He is a young fox with two tails (similar to the mythological kitsune), which enable him to fly by spinning them in a helicopter-like motion. According to Sega Japan's web site [1], he is 8 years old, stands at 80 centimeters (approx. 2 ft 7.5 in), and weighs 20 kilograms (44 lbs). His birthday is most likely October 16, the release date of his 1992 debut to the Master System and Game Gear version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, although most players' introduction to the character was in the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

During his first appearance his fur was an orange color, but changed to yellow-orange for Sonic Adventure, and light-yellow for Sonic Heroes. In 1995 he starred in his own games, Tails Adventure and Tails' Skypatrol for the Game Gear.

Yasushi Yamaguchi, originally the main artist and zone designer for Sega's Sonic Team, designed Tails for an internal competition for the sidekick. His entry won, but Sonic Team decided to change his character's name from "Miles" to "Tails".

Yamaguchi ended up with a compromise. He snuck the name "Miles" in as his legal name; "Tails" would be his nickname, ending up with the full name of Miles "Tails" Prower.

Tails was redesigned (along with all of the other Sonic characters) by Yuji Uekawa for Sonic Adventure. His fur changed color to a slightly orange shade of yellow, and he gained visible blue irises.

In the American and UK comics, he was once a brownish color. After the redesign by Sega, Archie decided to make him look more like the game image.

Tails was very shy when he first met Sonic, but gradually opened up and became Sonic's best friend. In Sonic Adventure, Tails proved his independence by saving Station Square from Dr. Eggman without Sonic's help. He now has many different creations and his intelligence matches Eggman's. He does have a few weaknesses though; he is very afraid of lightning and has a tendency to talk too much, stating the obvious most of the time. In the Archie Comics, the other Freedom Fighters take care of the fox, him being too young to do much. However, over time, he grows up to become a valuable team member. Tails also creates their first battleship, the X-Tornado.

The Japanese and Western manuals differ somewhat in the story of how the two first met.

In the Japanese manual, Tails lived on Westside Island, which Sonic arrived at shortly after the first game in his biplane, the Tornado. Sonic instantly became Tails' idol when the young fox first witnessed the blue hedgehog's incredible speed. After Sonic saw that Tails was actually able to catch up with him, he decided to let him tag along (this scene can be witnessed in Sonic Adventure in a flashback during Tails' story). Being a mechanics buff, Tails took the time to look over Sonic's plane when he had gone away. However, around the same time, Dr. Eggman (Dr. Robotnik) began demonstrating the power of his spacestation, the Death Egg. Tails was more than willing to help stop Eggman, effectively teaming up with Sonic. The added details about his mechanical abilities explain why Tails was so quick with repairs during Wing Fortress Zone, and have since been referenced in later titles such as Sonic Adventure where he made a much faster, more well equipped plane, the Tornado II, to replace the old one.

According to the Western manual, Sonic had been Tails' hero ever since he was a baby fox. After following his hero relentlessly for a long time, Tails became fast enough to keep up with Sonic by spinning his twin tails in a propeller-like style, which gave the fox the ability of flight. Eventually, Sonic and Tails became best friends.

Tails has many friends besides Sonic, and his skills are respected by everyone who knows him. In Sonic Heroes he is part of Team Sonic, along with Sonic and Knuckles. Tails mostly treats and respects all his friends the same with a humble and somewhat passive attitude.

For the most part, he has a friendly relationship with Amy Rose. Amy can be kinda rude and outspoken to Tails, like she is to everyone else, but they can work together productively and sometimes Amy is defensive of him; for example, by getting mad at Wave for laughing at him. He likes her despite her mood swings, as he has a crush con her.

Tails is also friendly with Knuckles. They converse more than Knuckles does with Sonic, although they do tend to irritate each other occasionally - Knuckles scares Tails in Sonic Heroes during the ghost levels, while Knuckles gets confused when Tails talks about technicalities in Sonic Riders. Tails is also on friendly terms with Cream and Cheese, but doesn't seem to know them very well.

Tails doesn't know Rouge the Bat very well either. However, he is intelligent enough to see past her charm - in Sonic Battle; for example, he treats her motives with suspicion and doesn't trust her. However, it is interesting to note that Tails has been kissed by Rouge on two different occasions, once in Sonic Battle (this can be viewed by losing in the fight where Rouge challenges the player for her Entry pass) and once in the Sonic X cartoon (during the Chaos Tournament, she kissed him to distract him while she tossed the love struck Tails out of the ring). Tails works with Shadow the Hedgehog in Shadow the Hedgehog and seems to trust him more than anyone but Rouge and Omega. Though, unfortunately, Sonic sees Shadow as a rival, so Tails is usually dragged into their fight whether he likes it or not.

Tails probably sees the Chaotix Crew (Vector, Charmy and Espio) as friends, although throughout the game series he has never had any dialogue with them. In Sonic X however, the crew decides to help him get involved with Cosmo, a girl that Tails likes. They try everything from knocking Knuckles out and trying to pass him off as a Metarex for Tails to defend the girl from, to just running up and placing them together, but nothing seems to work. Vector finally succeeds in making them closer by kicking a ball which bounces towards Cosmo, causing Tails to jump onto Cosmo to get her out of the way.

In Sonic Adventure 2, he had a short rivalry with Eggman, fighting him directly in the Cyclone twice - once on Prison Island, the second time when Eggman blasted Sonic into space. After this however, the rivalry seems to have ceased. Tails also found a rival in Wave the Swallow in Sonic Riders. In the game, she insulted his extreme gear skills to lower his morale, but her action caused a determined Tails to beat her in a race.

As for love life, Tails is generally considered too young for crushes, although in the Sonic the Hedgehog comics by Archie Comics and the TV series Sonic X by TMS Entertainment/Sonic Project, Tails has a few love interests. In Sonic X, Tails falls in love with Cosmo – a talking plant-alien-girl (a Seedrian, specifically) although the love doesn't seem to be love in a traditional sense – the two act as if in a very close friendship, though it's obvious they harbour feelings for each other. Tails is forced to kill her in the end because of the Metarex.

In the comics, Tails develops affections for Fiona Fox, a dashing red one-tailed female fox with mechanical skills similar to Tails'. In Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog issue #28 Robotnik uses a robotic version of Fiona Fox in an attempt to capture Tails (this occurs when he is much younger) - Sonic later remarks in the 'Home' series of the comic during a 'welcome back' party that Tails should be careful not to get his heart broken again. Ironically, when the biological Fiona shows up, it's Sonic who breaks Tails heart when Tails catches Sonic embracing and kissing her. During the early Tails/Downunda miniseries, Tails also has a very big crush on Barby Koala. She also likes him, although the two are forced to depart when Tails has to go back to Knothole.

In the 25 Years Later Archie storyline, which the Archie editors have stated is not the definite canon future, Tails is married to Mina Mongoose. (Note that this clearly is not canon to the master plot, as Ash is supposed to be Mina's boyfriend.)

There are rumors that he was orphaned at birth for unknown reasons. He has been living on the streets every day of his life, barely able to survive. The other kids picked on him because of his two tails and pushed him around because of his shyness.

In the Archie Comics, Tails has a variety of other-dimensional counterparts. Among these are a superhero Tails, teamed up with a group of Freedom Fighters descended from the originals who are styled after the Justice League. There is also Anti-Tails (who prefers his given name of Miles), an evil version from the same dimension as Evil Sonic and Anti-Knuckles. There are also many other forms of Tails who appear at one point to aid the fox in his battle with Mammoth Mogul. Tails Doll could also be seen as an alternative Tails, from the game Sonic R.

Although Tails can fly by twirling his two tails like the blades of a helicopter, he also enjoys flying Sonic's red biplane, the Tornado. As the TV series progressed, it was obvious his interest in the old biplane went further than just piloting it - Tails is a prodigy with mechanics, and he has a mechanical ability equal to that of Dr. Eggman's. As a result, many modifications were made to the Tornado, as well as new biplanes and a small, blue submarine called the "Sea Fox", a space ship called the "Lunar Fox", and a race car called the "Whirlwind S7." The "Whirlwind S7" is a vehicle clearly based upon the Lotus/Catherham Super Seven (hence the name).

In the Sonic the Hedgehog Movie (also known as Sonic Anime or Sonic Look-a-Like) Tails tampers with a tracking device given to him by Eggman to find the location of Robotropolis and the whereabouts of 'Black-Eggman'. After the escapade turns out to be a trick, Tails uses his quick thinking to modify the device back at his home (an island similar to Cocoa-Island) and uses the chipset to make an interference device which somehow causes Metal Sonic to malfunction. The device is later shot off of Tails' arm by Eggman, narrowly missing his arm.

In Sonic Adventure, Tails was experimenting with a Chaos Emerald-powered prototype plane based on Sonic's Tornado, the Tornado II. The Tornado II has two modes. One is quite similar to the old Tornado, but with a button press, Tails could make it transform into a rather futuristic-looking little plane which outperformed the Tornado in all but one important function -- landing gear. Big the Cat ended up flying the wrecked Tornado II to his home after Sonic and Tails crash-landed on Eggman's flying fortress, the Egg Carrier.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Tails had a new plane similar to the Tornado II called the P-3a Cyclone (or the Tornado III in Shadow the Hedgehog). The Cyclone has three modes: a plane mode, a car mode, and a mech mode. The airplane is only seen in cutscenes; the car is used on only one level (In the Kart minigame, Tails uses a go-kart); the mech mode is used most during the game. Tails drives the mech during all other gameplay, except when visiting the Chao Garden. For some reason, in [[]]Sonic Heroes, the Tornado III/Cyclone appears in a cutscene. It has the same body as the Tornado III, but with a cross-wing design and leaves smoke trails. In Shadow the Hedgehog, the Tornado III reappeared as its Sonic Adventure 2 version. Tails also built two other walkers in Sonic Adventure 2. One was the Tornado in walker mode (Apparently a recent upgrade of some sort), and the other was the Chao Walker, which was designed by Tails to give Chao the ability to fight back when hurt. Eggman created the Dark Chao Walker as its parallel. Both mechs are only playable in vs. mode.

Sonic X features a much improved model of the Tornado, and it is more high tech than the one in the games. Known as the X Tornado, two of these models exist, one yellow, and one silver. These machines are equipped with weaponry, and can transform into robots known as the X Cyclones : one a ground-based plane with legs (inspired by the Gerwalk Mode of the Valkyries rom Macross), the other a flying torso. Sonic X also features the Hyper Tornado, a superior version of Tails' biplane. Finally, Tails' greatest achievement is the Blue Typhoon warship. This vessel is equipped for deep space travel, and is equipped with a wide arsenal, the most powerful weapon in which is the Sonic Driver. This giant cannon uses Sonic as a living cannonball, creating a much-improved version of his super spin. The Blue Typhoon is powered by the Master Emerald. Despite the fact that Tails reconstructed the X Tornado from Tornado II, the Tornado II made a reappearance in episode 52 of Sonic X. It isn't explained how but this cannot be possible. Also, Sonic Project perhaps had made a mistake and did not think before doing this. Also, it is unexplained how Tails built the huge Blue Typhoon - in the games, it is important to note that Tails doesn't seem to be able to construct designs like this.

The original Tornado that appears in the Sonic series resembles the Polikarpov I-153 Chaika, a Soviet biplane from World War II; the I-153's engine is a Wright "Cyclone".

Like many of the other characters in the Sonic universe, Tails has super speed (but not as fast as Sonic) can do the Sonic Spin, the Spin Dash, the homing attack, as well as doing his own attacks, such as attacking with his tails by twirling around. In Sonic Adventure, he obtained the Rhythm Badge, which enabled him to do a continuous tail attack. In Sonic Adventure 2, he gained the ability to use the mystic melody, which caused something to happen when played in front of a certain kind of strange object. In Sonic Heroes, he is the Flight member of Team Sonic, which means that he can also use the Thunder Shoot attack, whereby he electrically charges Sonic and Knuckles and kicks them at his enemies. When alone, Tails can also throw fake rings, which electrocute enemies who blunder into them. He can also swim quite well, which is an ability Sonic never had. This, when combined with his flying ability, actually makes him quite an unfairly skilled character in some games.

Tails plays major roles in almost all Sonic games released since his debut in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. However, it's likely that in the unreleased Sonic X-treme, which was in development for the Sega Saturn platform, Tails would not have appeared. In similar fashion, Sonic CD only contains Tails in the form of a piece of artwork that features him standing next to a racecar with the caption "SEE YOU NEXT GAME" - a reference to Sonic Drift for the Game Gear.

Aside from his excellent mechanics and driving/piloting, Tails is great at sports, like grinding and boarding, which he learned (possibly) from Sonic.

Like Sonic, Tails can transform into a super form, called "Super Tails", but so far this has only been seen in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. He is bright gold, with four gold Flickies around him which can attack enemies. He needs the 7 Super Emeralds to transform.

The Archie Comics feature a wider range of transformations. In the continuity, Tails can still become the traditional Super Tails, but his coloring does not change and he achieved this through absorbing an unknown multitude of Power Rings. However, Tails' main transformation is into Turbo Tails. In this version, his fur changes from orange to brown (or brown to orange depending on the colorists of the comic issue), and he wears a cape and gloves reminiscent of a super hero. Finally, Tails' ultimate transformation, the strongest and least likely to appear again, is Titan Tails. In this incarnation, Tails merged with countless versions of himself from alternate dimensions to battle Mammoth Mogul. The result was a giant, muscular Tails with cosmic abilities.

He also was part of "Team Super Sonic" in the climactic fight against Metal Sonic in Sonic Heroes, however many fans are disheartened by the lack of any appearance of "Super Tails". The only form of transformation which Tails undergoes it to be encircled by a shield (which looks much like the fire shields found in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Tails has not been shown to transform in any of the cartoons. Sonic Project, the team behind Sonic X, apparently wanted the power of Chaos Control to stay limited to those of "greater" importance (a.k.a., Sonic and Shadow).

Tails was first seen on Sonic 2 for the Master System, where he was kidnapped by Robotnik for ransom. He was first made playable in Sonic 2 for the Megadrive (Genesis), where he played the part of Sonic's sidekick and also as a playable character from the second controller. Sonic Chaos (1993), on the Game Gear/Master System was the first game where you could control Tails' flight abilities.

Then, in Sonic 3 (1994) Tails made his second major appearance (also able to fly, which made him pick up Sonic when possible). This was a big step forward for Tails; he became much better known and respected at this point.

In Sonic Adventure and its remake, Sonic Adventure DX, Tails is 1 of the 6 playable characters in those games. To unlock him, rescue him as Sonic the Hedgehog at the beach. His gameplay is to destroy the capsule or get to the Chaos Emerald before Sonic or Dr. Eggman.

However, in the sequel, Sonic Adventure 2 and it's remake, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, his gameplay changed. Instead of the one in Sonic Adventure, he got a gameplay similar to E-102 Gamma's in Sonic Adventure, in fact, Dr. Eggman got the gameplay too.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, he helps out in the Circus Park and Air Fleet levels.

In Sonic Riders, Tails is a playable character, and one of the main characters of the game. He modified Sonic's Extreme Gear "Blue Star" to become "Blue Star II". Wave the Swallow makes fun of his board design, sparking a rivalry between them throughout the game. When racing, he has the best cornering of all characters.

In Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Sonic Adventure, when the player has opted to play in 'Sonic and Tails' mode (controlling Sonic while the AI makes Tails follow him), it's not readily stated in the manual, but a second player can use the 2P controller to use Tails. The action will continue to follow Sonic on the screen, making him the focal point, but Tails is fully controllable in every way that he is when playing as Tails alone. This can potentially be exploited by players who are having trouble with some problem areas or bosses, as Tails has the benefit of being completely invulnerable, with any "death" he suffers being quickly resolved as the character flies harmlessly back onto the screen after a few seconds. Moreover, in Sonic 3, Tails is granted the ability to fly as he pleases, which can allow the Tails-using player to airlift Sonic wherever he might need to go, though Tails does have an endurance limit to his flight. Sonic Advance allowed this mode as well (via a code entered at character select), however, Tails couldn't be controlled by a second player this time.

There is also a glitch in Sonic 2 which arguably gives him a 'Super Tails' form before its official appearance in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Again, playing in Sonic & Tails mode is a prerequisite. After becoming Super Sonic through whatever means necessary (code or legitimately), the player can use the in-game debug mode to place a normal item monitor on the ground, giving himself a monitor with the teleport item normally only available in 2-player split screen. After jumping on this, the characters will stay in their location, but while Super Sonic's abilities will be apparently gone, Tails will now have an invincibility ring surrounding him. Sonic must collect another 50 rings and jump to return to Super status. Super Tails will remain in his state for as long as he doesn't "die" through drowning, crushing or falling, and he actually runs as fast as Super Sonic, though he lacks the height of his jumps.

In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, he is a lot younger than his game self (this is one reason he became often seen as Sonic's little "groupie"). He is often, in Sonic's opinion, a slight annoyance due to his irritating tendency of being captured easily, often by one of Robotnik's creations or Robotnik himself. But still, Sonic sees him as like a surrogate brother and best friend, and is usually overprotective of him (this often leads to his or Sonic's capture). Even though, Tails seems to have a vast intelligence in mechanics and can operate independently in drastic situations, such as in one instance lacing an entire building with booby-traps (in a manner similar to those seen in Home Alone) in order to revive Sonic from a nasty ailment. He is also evidenced to have a large appetite, and like Sonic, his favorite food is chili dogs. He has a rather sharp tongue towards Scratch and Grounder (losers, morons, dumbclucks, etc) especially when cornered.

He also appears in the British Sonic the Comic, published by Fleetway, where he hails from the Nameless Zone, a region which can apparently only be accessed by a space warp. A misunderstanding led Tails to the Emerald Hill Zone, where the streets of which he believed were paved with real emeralds, but once there, Tails immediately became fascinated with Sonic, and eventually became his sidekick and eventually best friend. Unfortunately for him, though, he exaggerated the relationship in letters home, professing that HE was the great hero of Mobius and that Sonic was HIS sidekick, which resulted in the elders of the Nameless Zone often calling him back, and gifting him with a suit of enchanted armor to defend their Zone from assorted evil - and poor old Tails never did quite manage to explain the truth. One time, Knuckles accidentally joined Tails and was mistaken for Sonic by everyone in the Nameless Zone. Knuckles played along and kept it all secret from Sonic. Tails also accidentally found himself seen as an valiant and unstoppable Zonerunner (a Freedom Fighter who travels between Zones) by the Chemical Plant Zone rebels known as the Flock.

While the Zonerunner & Nameless Zone adventures were 'secret' adventures where Tails was accidentally seen as a major hero, later stories would have him actively doing heroic deeds, though these were mainly short arcs or more comedic stories. On occasions, he would save someone and they would grumble he wasn't a more famous hero! Despite this, Tails gained his own rogue's gallery including the brutal goblin lord Trogg, the psychotic robot Nutzan Bolt, Fleabyte the bounty hunter and the gangster Max Gamble, as well as allies such as Errol & Blackthorn (brother and sister warriors of the Nameless Zone). He also fought many criminals after the defeat of Robotnik, defended the Casino Night Zone & its people from Brutus' Badniks, and was chosen by Sonic to protect the planet while he went after Robotnik during the Planet In Peril/Game Over story. While he is self-conscious, Tails has proven time & again (and openly stated) that he is much tougher than some people may think.

Tails also appears in the American Archie Sonic Comics, where he is developed upon as the chosen one and the son of Rosemary and Amadeus Prower, also having an uncle named Merlin. In the Archie Sonic comic, he seemed to have lost his parents at an early age, and admired the Freedom Fighters, particularly Sonic. He has grown pretty close with the Princess Sally, as he calls her Aunt Sally. He is also Sonic's surrogate little brother. Jules and Bernie Hedgehog (Sonic's parents in the comic version) also view Tails as a son to them. During his journey through space, Sonic met Tails' parents on Argentium, home planet of the Bem aliens.

When he absorbs fifty rings and seven Chaos Emeralds, he becomes Turbo Tails. His fur color changes from orange to dark orange, all natural abilities are upgraded and he is, like Super Sonic, immune to all attacks that come his way. He has only once made an appearance as Super Tails after he had absorbed the power of a thousand power rings in a battle along side Ultra Sonic against the evil wizard Ixis Naugus. He was aided by four flickies that have chaos energy and that will attack whatever he wishes them to. Tails, like Sonic, has multiple other-dimensional counterparts, whom he teamed up with to fight his nemesis, Mammoth Mogul. When this proved ineffective, Tails merged with his alternate selves to become a massive cosmic being known as Titan Tails.

Archie Comics produced a supplementary 3-issue mini-series in the mid-nineties, in which Tails embarked on a solo adventure to the land of Downunda, a supposed parallel of Australia, where several marsupials befriended him including one Barby Koala. Leading into the story arc featured in the mini-series was a two-part mini-adventure in which Tails encountered a disguised robot named Fiona Fox, a robotic duplicate of a young vixen. He fell in love with her before discovering her robotic nature. The organic counterpart of Fiona is now featured in the Archie comic and Tails seems to have a crush on her, although she is less than interested in him as she is several years older. (Fiona Fox herself has recently been seen dating, of all people, Sonic; Tails ended up screaming "I HATE YOU!" at Sonic when he found out.)

In Sonic X, Tails develops a love interest in Cosmo, the plant-like alien girl introduced in Season 3. The strength of Tails' love is shown in Episode 73, where Shadow, in an attempt to kill Cosmo, clobbers Sonic, Chris, and Knuckles, but, despite his best efforts, could not manage to get past Tails. Unfortunately, Cosmo sacrifices herself in Episode 77, fusing herself with the Metarex planet so that Tails could destroy it with the Sonic Driver; Tails was extremely hesitant to fire, and only did so at the urging of Cosmo herself and Dr. Eggman. In Episode 78, Super Sonic and Super Shadow use Chaos Regeneration to try to bring Cosmo back to life, but only manage to produce a small seed. When Sonic shows the seed to Tails, the fox collapses on the floor and starts crying. However, it is possible that Sonic and Shadow succeeded; at the end of the episode, the seed began to sprout.

In every version of the Sonic series, there is a different version of how Sonic and Tails met (excluding Sonic Underground, since Tails was absent from it). As stated earlier, in the video game version (as taken from the official Sonic the Hedgehog 2 manual) Sonic instantly became Tails' idol when Tails first witnessed Sonic's incredible speed. After Sonic sees that the young fox is actually able to catch up with him he recruits him as his sidekick. This scene can be witnessed in Sonic Adventure in a flashback during Tails' story.

In Sonic X, Tails and Sonic became friends after Tails rebuilt and repainted Sonic's antique airplane. Before he met Sonic, Tails was bullied by other animals where he lived because of his skills.

In a flashback shown in the Adventures Of Sonic the Hedgehog episode "Tails' New Home", Tails literally landed on top of Sonic. The baby fox cub explains to Sonic he had just been kicked out the nest of some birds, young Tails had decided he was a bird due to his ability to fly. Sonic tells him he is in fact a fox and is shocked to see that he can actually fly. Baby Tails follows Sonic and after getting him into some mishaps, Sonic agrees that Tails can stay with him.

In Sonic The Comic, Sonic saved Tails from drowning in a swamp when they first met when he saw two tails peering from the swamp, the rest of Tails' body completely submerged. Mistakenly believing there were two foxes in the swamp, Sonic only had time to grab one tail and believed one fox had drowned; he soon realized that both tails belonged to the same fox.

The Saturday morning cartoon did not give an explanation as to how they met, but the comics based off of it did. In the flashback story "Eve of Destruction", the five-year-old Sonic witnesses Tails' birth and immediately befriends the newborn fox a few minutes (or two pages) later.